Winchester Model 1885 (Model 85) serial numbers by year
The single-shot falling-block rifle that began Winchester’s partnership with John Browning, made as the High Wall and Low Wall in dozens of chamberings.
- Produced:
- 1885–1920
- Action:
- single-shot
What year was your Model 85 made?
Winchester Model 85 value: what it sells for at auction
120 Winchester Model 1885s sold one gun to a lot at Rock Island Auction Company (77) and Morphy Auctions (43) between Sep 2023 and Sep 2026. The table groups them the way the auction house coded each lot: antique, curio and relic, or modern. Half of the guns in each row sold inside the “most sell between” range; a quarter sold below it and a quarter above. Eight in ten sold inside the wider “nearly all between” range.
Standard guns only. Left out: deluxe and special-order guns (checkered or fancy wood, pistol grips, odd barrel lengths, special sights), engraved, inscribed, presentation, and commemorative pieces, and lots of two or more guns. A deluxe or special-order gun sells for more than these figures, often several times more. Condition and originality drive most of the spread inside a row.
Enter your serial number above and this section picks out the row for your gun’s era and lists the most recent sales like it.
| Era | Sales | Most sell between | Typical | Nearly all between |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antiquemade before 1899 | 65 | $1,116 – $3,231 | $2,115 | $840 – $5,464 |
| Curio & Relicat least 50 years old at the time of sale | 55 | $1,188 – $3,710 | $1,800 | $748 – $4,406 |
These are sold prices for standard guns, not an appraisal. Prices realized as published by each house after the sale; both houses' figures include the buyer's premium. A dealer buying for resale will offer less than these figures; a private sale between collectors often lands near the typical price for the gun’s condition. If your gun has factory upgrades, a factory letter that confirms them is what moves it above these numbers. Updated after each major sale. The full picture, model by model →
Where the serial number is
Lower tang (bottom of receiver, forward of trigger guard).
Why the sources give different years
Nobody kept one official list of which Winchester Model 1885 serial numbers were made in which year. The dates come from the original factory record books, now held by the Cody Firearms Museum, the tables in George Madis's Winchester books, compiled decades after the guns were made, and a list typed up by Winchester's customer-service desk, which mixes real records with estimates. For some serial numbers these sources are years apart, so this page shows what each one says instead of picking one.
Madis vs. factory dates lists every model where the sources part ways, with a real serial number from each.
Sources for this model: Madis/legacy year-end table · Madis/Legacy Key Reference Points · Madis/legacy 1920 canonical summary · CFM/Polishing Room antique cutoff · Winchester customer-service list (2012)
How accurate are these tables?
A factory letter from the Cody Firearms Museum gives the exact date a serial number was stamped. We collected Model 1885 letters that have been published in auction catalogs and checked each one against the tables on this page. A table is checked only against the letters whose serials it covers, so the counts differ from table to table. A table earns trust when the letters land in the year it gives:
- George Madis's published tables: 17 of 24 letters land in the year it assigns (24 within a year).
- George Madis's published tables: 36 of 46 letters land in the year it assigns (46 within a year).
- Winchester's own customer-service list (2012): 19 of 32 letters land in the year it assigns (27 within a year).
Winchester did not always stamp serial numbers in order, so an occasional one-year miss is normal even for a table built from the original factory books. Consistent misses are not.
Winchester Model 1885 serial numbers by year
The full Model 1885 serial number chart, one table for each published source. Each row gives the serial numbers that source assigns to a year. Find the row your number falls in.
A row marked “sources differ” is a serial range that another table on this page dates to a different year. For the Model 1885 that is true of most of the run, so treat any single year as an estimate and read the notes below the tables.
George Madis's published tables
From George Madis's Winchester books, a collector reference compiled decades after production. The figures are year-end estimates, not counts from the factory books.
Cited as: Madis/legacy year-end table
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1885sources differ | 1 – 375 |
| 1886sources differ | 376 – 6,841 |
| 1887sources differ | 6,842 – 18,328 |
| 1888sources differ | 18,329 – 30,571 |
| 1889sources differ | 30,572 – 45,019 |
| 1891sources differ | 45,020 – 53,700 |
| 1892sources differ | 53,701 – 60,373 |
| 1893sources differ | 60,374 – 69,534 |
| 1895sources differ | 69,535 – 73,771 |
| 1896sources differ | 73,772 – 78,253 |
| 1897sources differ | 78,254 – 78,815 |
| 1898sources differ | 78,816 – 84,700 |
| 1899sources differ | 84,701 – 85,086 |
- 1885: Numbering began at 1. The Key Reference Points table says 1 to 375 shipped in 1885.
- 1891: The detailed table gives no last serial number for 1890.
- 1895: The detailed table gives no last serial number for 1894.
- 1898: The original factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum put the 1898 cutoff at 82,381 rather than the 84,700 shown here. That is a difference of 2,319 numbers. Serials 82,382 to 84,700 need an individual factory-record check.
- 1899: This 1899 starting number is worked out from the disputed 1898 cutoff of 84,700 in George Madis's tables. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give 82,381 instead.
George Madis's published tables
From George Madis's Winchester books, a collector reference compiled decades after production. The figures are year-end estimates, not counts from the factory books.
Cited as: Madis/Legacy Key Reference Points
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1885sources differ | 1 – 374 |
| 1886sources differ | 375 – 6,840 |
| 1887sources differ | 6,841 – 18,327 |
| 1888sources differ | 18,328 – 30,570 |
| 1889sources differ | 30,571 – 45,018 |
| 1890sources differ | 45,019 – 53,699 |
| 1892sources differ | 53,700 – 60,372 |
| 1893sources differ | 60,373 – 69,533 |
| 1894sources differ | 69,534 – 73,770 |
| 1896sources differ | 73,771 – 78,252 |
| 1897sources differ | 78,253 – 78,814 |
| 1898sources differ | 78,815 – 84,699 |
| 1899sources differ | 84,700 – 85,085 |
| 1900–1920 | 85,086 – 139,700 |
- 1885: First production. Serials 1 to 375 shipped in 1885.
- 1886: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1886 numbering had reached 6,841.
- 1887: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1887 numbering had reached 18,328.
- 1888: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1888 numbering had reached 30,571.
- 1889: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1889 numbering had reached 45,019.
- 1890, 1894: The starting serial number is approximate.
- 1892: The starting serial number is approximate. The table gives the same starting number, 53,700, for both 1891 and 1892, so there is no separate 1891 row. By the end of 1892 numbering had reached 60,373.
- 1893: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1893 numbering had reached 69,534.
- 1896: The starting serial number is approximate. The table gives the same starting number, 73,771, for both 1895 and 1896, so there is no separate 1895 row. By the end of 1896 numbering had reached 78,253.
- 1897: The starting serial number is approximate. By the end of 1897 numbering had reached 78,815.
- 1898: The starting serial number is approximate. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give 82,381 as the last serial number of the year. George Madis's tables give 84,700. That is a difference of 2,319 numbers.
- 1899: The starting serial number is approximate. The 1899 boundary is worked out from the disputed 1898 cutoff in George Madis's tables. By the end of 1899 numbering had reached 85,086.
- 1900–1920: The top of this range is approximate. Serial numbers above 94,000 are estimates.
George Madis's published tables
From George Madis's Winchester books, a collector reference compiled decades after production. The figures are year-end estimates, not counts from the factory books.
Cited as: Madis/legacy 1920 canonical summary
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1920sources differ | through 115,170 |
- 1920: The regular table reaches 115,170 in 1920. Many later numbers were skipped, and serial numbers eventually reached 139,700.
Factory records (Cody Firearms Museum)
The original Winchester factory ledgers, now held at the Cody Firearms Museum. They record the day each serial number was stamped, which is usually close to when the gun was finished.
Cited as: CFM/Polishing Room antique cutoff
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1898sources differ | through 82,381 |
- 1898: George Madis's tables give 84,700. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give 82,381. The Cody figure is 2,319 numbers lower.
Winchester's own customer-service list (2012)
A year-by-year list Winchester's customer-service desk typed up to answer owners' letters. Partly real records and partly estimates, as the list itself says.
Cited as: Winchester customer-service list (2012)
| Year | Serial numbers |
|---|---|
| 1885sources differ | 1 – 375 |
| 1886sources differ | 376 – 6,841 |
| 1887sources differ | 6,842 – 18,328 |
| 1888sources differ | 18,329 – 30,571 |
| 1889sources differ | 30,572 – 45,019 |
| 1891sources differ | 45,020 – 53,700 |
| 1892sources differ | 53,701 – 60,371 |
| 1893sources differ | 60,372 – 69,534 |
| 1895sources differ | 69,535 – 73,771 |
| 1896sources differ | 73,772 – 78,253 |
| 1897sources differ | 78,254 – 78,815 |
| 1898sources differ | 78,816 – 84,700 |
| 1899sources differ | 84,701 – 85,086 |
| 1900sources differ | 85,087 – 88,501 |
| 1901sources differ | 88,502 – 90,424 |
| 1902sources differ | 90,425 – 92,031 |
| 1903sources differ | 92,032 – 92,359 |
| 1904sources differ | 92,360 – 92,785 |
| 1905sources differ | 92,786 – 93,611 |
| 1906sources differ | 93,612 – 94,208 |
| 1907sources differ | 94,209 – 95,743 |
| 1908sources differ | 95,744 – 96,819 |
| 1909sources differ | 96,820 – 98,097 |
| 1910sources differ | 98,098 – 98,506 |
| 1911sources differ | 98,507 – 99,012 |
| 1913sources differ | 99,013 – 100,352 |
What to know about Model 1885 serial numbers
- Serial numbers above 94,000 are estimates.
- George Madis's tables report that serial numbers eventually reached about 139,700 after large blocks of numbers were skipped. No official exact production total was found.
- Serial 139,700 is the last serial number reached after numbers were skipped. It does not mean 139,700 guns were made.
- Large blocks of numbers were skipped after about 115,170. Winder muskets are numbered inside the same Single Shot run of numbers. Do not work out how many were made from the highest serial number.
- The range covered by the factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum is not the same as the last serial number made.
- The OldGuns lookup shows a range of 1 to 151,170. That conflicts with the detailed table and is most likely a copying error, so do not let it replace the detailed figure.
- George Madis's tables give 84,700. The factory records at the Cody Firearms Museum give 82,381. The Cody figure is 2,319 numbers lower.
- Federal antique status depends on the gun actually being made in or before 1898. Serial 82,381 or below is the pre-1899 antique cutoff supported by the factory ledger. Serials 82,382 to 84,700 need an individual factory-record check.
- Winchester's own customer-service list is a retyped compilation, not the original records. The list itself says that no complete original serial record from 1866 onward is known to exist, and that some of its figures are estimates.
- Winchester's own customer-service list records no further serial numbers until the end of 1923. The last number it records is 139,700.
Winchester rifles that never had a serial number
These have no serial number to look up. Their pages explain why, and how to date one from its features.
Want proof on paper? Order a factory letter
The Cody Firearms Museum holds Winchester’s original records and, for a fee, will search them for your serial number and send you a letter with the recorded dates and details. It is the closest thing to the original factory entry you can own, and it is what auction houses and appraisers accept.
Its records cover Model 1885 serial numbers: 1–115,308. A number outside that coverage cannot be lettered.
Order a factory letter from the Cody Firearms Museum →What a factory letter shows, and when one is worth ordering →